


The Youngest Mills Girl

by RegalStarlight



Series: Olivia Locksley [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 19:24:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 11,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5552270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegalStarlight/pseuds/RegalStarlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven-year-old Olivia Locksley is distraught when she learns that she has magic, just like her infamous birth mother, and is afraid that means she is destined to be just as wicked. Luckily, she has a big, loving family to help and support her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note: This is a story about an innocent young girl who is not to blame for the unfortunate circumstances of her birth being raised by a loving family. If that is really so offensive to you, please click the X in the corner immediately and go look for something more to your liking. Reviews that use the words “rape baby”, “wicked spawn”, or anything else similarly offensive to describe Robin’s daughter are not welcome.

Olivia let out an ear-splitting scream. In the sky above, the griffin circled like a vulture, preparing to descend. Granny was behind her, raising her crossbow and telling the little girl to run, but Olivia instinctively turned toward the griffin and pushed with her hands, as if she could somehow force it away. Fire came blasting out of her palms, hitting the creature square in the chest at the same time Granny's arrow pierced its wing. It snarled and clawed at the air in pain before flying away, leaving Olivia sitting there on the grass, staring at the palms of her hands.

Behind her, there was chaos. Granny ran towards the little girl and scooped her up in her arms, while Ruby was speaking frantically into her phone and the dwarfs were freaking out. Olivia buried her head in Granny's shirt and tried to block it all out.

A few minutes later, Robin came rushing in. She looked at him and saw the fear in his eyes, but there was nothing but tenderness as he scooped his daughter up in his arms and held her close.

"You're safe now," he whispered. "You're going to be all right."

Later, when she was on the couch at home, wrapped up in a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate in her hands, she still shuddered as the memories came rushing through her head.

"You're safe, sweetheart," her father murmured as he stroked her curly red hair. "Nothing's going to hurt you."

Because of course he thought that was what she was afraid of. Of course he didn't understand, and she almost didn't want to tell him what had really happened.

"I used magic," she said quietly, staring down at her hands.

"What?"

Was that disappointment she heard in his voice?

"Against the griffin," she said. "It was attacking, and then all of a sudden, fire came shooting out of my hands."

Her daddy was definitely looking at her differently now. Her little heart sank.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, a tear falling from her eye. "I didn't want to be like her. I don't want to be wicked."

Then he had pulled her into a hug and kissed her little forehead and assured her that she was nothing like her birth mother.

"You were just defending yourself," he said. "You can use your power for good, like your mom. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to teach you."

"But …"

"Olivia Locksley," he said. "You are the farthest thing from wicked. Don't you worry for a minute about your magic. You're a good girl, and I have faith in you. All that matters right now is that you're safe. I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you, too, daddy," she whispered as he hugged her again.


	2. Chapter 2

Regina came home late from the office and sank down into the couch with a glass of cider. Robin came to sit beside her, and she leaned against his chest, kicking off her heels and folding her legs beneath her.

“Hard day?” he asked.

Regina shrugged. “Being Mayor was so much easier under the curse. We’re trying to deal with these monsters attacking the town, and meanwhile, everyone else seems incapable of doing their jobs without me holding their hands and basically doing it for them. And the lost boys aren’t helping. I hoped they would grow up someday, but they’re in their teens and twenties now and still just as immature as ever.”

Robin gently rubbed her shoulder, his touch soft and soothing.

“What did they do this time?” he asked.

“Oh, they vandalized the clock tower again,” she groaned. “It’s covered in graffiti, and the hands of the clock have mysteriously gone missing. I’m sure they think it’s harmless fun, but it’s causing quite the headache for me.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll take care of it,” said Robin. “You always manage.”

Regina nodded.

“We had a bit of excitement today ourselves,” he commented, making Regina’s eyebrows shoot up. “It would seem our Olivia has magic.”

Regina just shrugged and didn’t seem particularly surprised. “Our whole family has had it. Me, Zelena, our mother … I’d be more surprised if Olivia couldn’t use magic.”

“I told her you could teach her,” he added. “You will, won’t you? There’s no one better she could learn from.”

Regina nodded. “Of course I will.”

* * *

 

The next day at school, Olivia was quiet and withdrawn. She sat next to Cousin Neal – who wasn’t really her cousin, if you wanted to be technical – and picked at her sandwich without really eating it. Of course, he had to ask what was wrong, and she told him. After all, it wasn’t as if there weren’t rumors all over town anyway.

“Awesome!” he said.

She was quiet. “Do you think I can use it for good?”

“Sure,” said Neal. “Plenty of people do. Just look at my big sister, or the fairies, or Regina.”

Olivia smiled. Maybe he was right.

* * *

 

When Olivia got home, Regina was waiting for her with a smile and a hug.

“Daddy said you would teach me magic?” she said nervously.

Regina nodded and sat down, beckoning for Olivia to join her.

“Now I want you to understand something,” said Regina. “And this is something I wish I have been taught when I first learned how to use magic. Your powers aren’t good or evil, you know that, right?”

Olivia looked up at her and tilted her head curiously.

“The way that you use them determines what they’ll be,” Regina continued. “Magic is fueled by emotion: dark magic is powered by anger and hate, but light magic comes from love and wanting to protect people. You have the power for either one. It’s up to you which kind of witch you become.”

“What if I don’t want to be a witch?” Olivia asked.

“Well, you can try not to use magic,” said Regina. “I didn’t use mine until I was eighteen. But it’s better for you to start learning how to control your powers now.”

Olivia nodded. “And you’ll teach me how to use light magic? I don’t want to be like my mother.”

“I will,” Regina confirmed.

Olivia must have still looked nervous, because Regina leaned forward and smiled, holding out her hand with the palm facing upwards. A moment later, tiny fireworks exploded in the air around them, leaving behind traces of smoke and sparkles. In spite of her worries, Olivia let out a giggle.


	3. Chapter 3

Olivia had been three years old when she first met Zelena. Or at least, that was the first time she remembered. Daddy said the scary red-haired woman had tried to take her as a newborn baby, but naturally, Olivia didn’t remember that far back. On the other hand, she didn’t think she would ever forget the moment Zelena had strolled into their house, knocked her daddy unconscious with a wave of her hand, and scooped Olivia up in her arms as the child struggled to get away from her.

“My little green bean,” she murmured. “How you’ve grown.”

A moment later, the house dissolved around them and they were standing in the front yard of a farm house Olivia had never seen before. Tears filled her eyes.

“Daddy!” she cried. “Mommy!”

The woman who still held her chuckled. “I’m your mommy. Whatever they’ve told you is a lie.”

That just made Olivia cry harder. This woman was crazy … wasn’t she?

It was hours before they found her. Her real parents came bursting in, Daddy with an arrow notched in his bow and Mommy with a fireball burning in her hand. Three-year-old Olivia let out a sigh of relief and crawled into her daddy’s arms while her mommy took down the stranger with a blast of magic.

“You foolish child!” Zelena shrieked as Regina slapped the magic-restraining cuff on her wrist. “You think I’m wicked? Well your precious fake mommy is a thousand times worse than I could ever be!”

Olivia just buried her face in her daddy’s shoulder and tried to block the scary woman out. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true.

Later, Robin and Regina sat her down and had a talk they didn’t think they’d have to have with her until years later.

“You know I’ve always told you that family is more than blood,” said Regina.

“So it’s true? The scary lady is my real mommy?”

Regina shook her head. “She gave birth to you. That doesn’t mean she’s your real anything.”

“So I’m like Henry,” said Olivia. “Like how he has two mommies?”

Regina grimaced at the comparison. Emma was her friend, her co-parent, her ally – something she doubted she and her sister would ever be able to replicate, even if either of them had any desire to. Zelena was not Regina, and she certainly wasn’t Emma.

“Zelena isn’t the best person to be a mother to you,” said Robin, somehow understanding what Regina was feeling without being told. “She’s dangerous. She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

Olivia shook her head. “She just kept calling me her little green bean and saying bad things about you. Is it true you’re her sister? Is it true you’re an evil queen?”

She fixed her little eyes on Regina, who shifted awkwardly.

“The sister part is true,” she admitted. “I was the Evil Queen, but I put that behind me a long time ago.”

The child blinked, trying to process that information.

“People can change, sweetheart,” said Robin, ruffling her curly red hair.

“So that woman …”

“Zelena.”

“Could she change?” Olivia asked.

Robin and Regina exchanged a glance over her head. He had a big “no” written all over his face, but Regina was more hesitant.

“Maybe she will someday,” said Regina. “But right now I don’t think she wants to, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that redemption can’t be forced. It has to be your choice.”


	4. Chapter 4

Things had gone more or less back to normal after Olivia’s first encounter with Zelena. With one big exception: the word “Mommy” had been ruined for her. She had outgrown the word overnight and started calling Reinga “Mom” (or, very rarely, “Aunt Regina”, when she needed to make it clear she wasn’t talking about her birth mother). If it was weird for the same woman to be her mom and her aunt, it was no stranger in her mind than Neal having a nephew who was twelve years older than him, and a sister who was the same age as their parents.

Four years later, she still wanted nothing to do with the redheaded woman who had tried to take her away from her family. They took her to visit about once a month for a very awkward couple of hours, but she dreaded those visits and was always relieved when they were over and she wouldn’t have to see Zelena again for a long time. So Regina was shocked when, a few days after Olivia’s first time using magic, she asked if she could talk to her birth mother.

They pulled up in front of the apartment building in Regina’s Mercedes. (Zelena had been let out of prison last year, but she still wore the magic-restraining cuff and was closely monitored by the Sherriff’s department). Olivia hesitated and made no move to get out of the car.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Regina asked.

Olivia nodded. “I think so.”

Taking a shaky breath, she opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Her mom held out a hand, and Olivia gratefully took it. Together, they walked up to Zelena’s door, and Olivia knocked. The redheaded woman answered a moment later, and her eyes widened when she saw who was there.

“My little green bean!” she cried. She reached out to hug the child, but Olivia stepped back, and Regina’s glare stopped her sister.

“I’m not your green bean,” said Olivia. “I’m my daddy’s peanut.”

Zelena rolled her eyes and moved aside to let them in. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Olivia didn’t answer. She sat down on Zelena’s couch and crossed her arms.

“Oh, come on. My sister didn’t take your voice, did she?”

Zelena’s tone was soft and teasing, and that made it worse, Olivia thought. She had seen Zelena scream and fight with Daddy and Mom, but she had always been kind to her, in her own way. It didn’t add up in her mind, and she could never quite figure out which side to Zelena was the real one.

“I used magic,” said Olivia.

Zelena’s face lit up. Her eyes were almost crazed with excitement.

“Well of course you did, my green bean,” she gushed. “You’re my daughter, after all. You may call yourself Locksley, but you’re a Mills girl, and we always have magic.”

Olivia went quiet again. She wasn’t quite sure why she had wanted so badly to tell Zelena about her magic, but her birth mother’s approval was the last thing she was looking for.

“What did you do?” Zelena asked, sitting down on a chair nearby while Regina stood behind Olivia, watching her sister with narrowed eyes.

“Fire,” Olivia whispered. “It was fire.”

“We’ll make a wicked witch of you yet,” said Zelena, a note of pride in her voice.

Ah, so that was it, Olivia realized. That was what she wanted to tell Zelena.

“I’m not going to be like you,” she said, raising her little chin to look her birth mother in the eye. She thought she looked defiant, but in reality, she was adorable, with her proud blue eyes and chubby cheeks. “I’m going to be a good witch.”

“We shall see,” said Zelena calmly. She glanced from Olivia to Regina, as if making up her mind about something. “Since you’re both here, would you care to stay for tea? I can put the kettle on.”

While Regina was trying to puzzle out whether her sister was offering an olive branch or simply looking for a chance to make more passive aggressive comments, Olivia surprised herself by nodding.

“If that’s OK?” she asked, looking up at her adoptive mother.

“I suppose we can stay a bit longer,” Regina agreed. “So long as there’s no more talk of turning Olivia wicked. What she does with her magic is up to her, Zelena, not you.”

With a sigh, Zelena nodded. “Oh, all right.”

Olivia hadn’t been sure at the time why she wanted to come here, and she still wasn’t sure why she wanted to stay. Maybe she was reminding herself of what she didn’t want to turn out like. Or maybe she just wanted a cup of tea.


	5. Chapter 5

“Magic is emotion,” said Regina, sitting in the living room of the mansion with Olivia. “If you want to be in control of it, you have to be in touch with your emotions. It’s not easy: you don’t want to let yourself be taken over by negative emotions, because that will turn your magic dark. But you also don’t want to try to suppress what you feel.”

“What happens if you do that?” Olivia asked.

“It comes out anyway,” said Regina. “You can’t keep emotions – or magic – bottled up forever. And if you try, it will just get harder to stay in control. That’s why it’s so important for you to learn now.”

Olivia nodded.

“All right,” said Regina. “I want you to close your eyes and focus on a good emotion: happiness, love, that sort of thing. Don’t try to use magic yet, just feel it.”

As Olivia obeyed, Regina searched for some kind of magic that wouldn’t be too frightening or difficult for such a young child.

“Okay, now open your eyes,” she said. “Do you see that jacket that your daddy left lying on the floor?”

Olivia let out a giggle and nodded.

“I want you to bring it over here. No, I don’t mean go and get it,” she added as Olivia started to stand. “Use magic. Make it appear here.”

“How?” Olivia asked, looking up at Regina in confusion.

“It’s hard to explain,” said Regina. “Just feel the magic, hold out your hand, and hopefully your daddy’s jacket won’t be cluttering up the floor anymore.”

Olivia nodded and held out her hand, but the jacket stayed where it was. She would really have to talk to Robin about putting things where they belonged, Regina thought. Olivia’s eyes narrowed, and her cheeks flushed as she kept trying to make it move.

“It’s okay,” said Regina. “It took me a while to get that down, too. Maybe we should try something easier.”

Olivia groaned in frustration. “It shouldn’t be this hard! I can do fire, why not this?”

“You were in danger, then,” said Regina. “Your magic came instinctively. It’s harder to learn how to make it happen on command.”

Privately, she thought to herself that Rumple might have used danger to teach her, and she might have done the same with Emma, but no one was going to make sweet little Olivia learn magic in anything less than complete safety.

Turning her attention back to Robin’s jacket, Olivia held out her hand again, and glared at it. A moment later, it was draped over her arm. She looked up at her mom as if expecting praise, but fear twisted Regina’s gut. She tried to speak gently.

“Can you tell me what you were feeling, Olivia?”

“Like I really wanted to make it work, like I was … angry.”

Regina sighed. She had been afraid of that.

“What did I tell you about anger?” she asked. “I don’t want you to use it for your magic. It’s dangerous.”

Tears filled Olivia’s eyes. Leaving the jacket on the couch, she ran from the room. With a groan, Regina buried her face in her hands. Their first lesson could hardly have gone worse, and she had no clue how to deal with it.

She waited a while before following Olivia upstairs. With a cautious knock, she peeked into the little girl’s bedroom. Olivia lay in the middle of her bed, wrapped in a flower-print blanket, sobbing into her pillow.

“Leave me alone,” she said, looking up at Regina with puffy red eyes.

“It’s going to be okay,” said Regina, staying back in the doorway. “I promise.”

Olivia shook her head. “You saw it. I couldn’t use light magic, but dark … I’m like her. Zelena.”

Regina shook her head and came closer, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Olivia sat up and looked at her.

“You don’t have to be like Zelena.”

“But …”

“Magic is something you’re born with, but how you use it is up to you. I used dark magic for a long time before I even knew I was capable of light magic. But the only difference is the emotion that drives you to use your magic. I think you’re dealing with a lot of conflicting feelings right now, and that’s okay. It’s normal. That doesn’t mean you have to end up like Zelena.”

A suspicious glance told her Olivia wasn’t quite buying it.

“Anger is normal,” she said. “The important thing is that you work through it. I just want to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes that Zelena and I did, but Olivia, I have faith in you. I really do.”

Olivia gave a wobbly smile and hugged Regina. “I hope you’re right.”


	6. Chapter 6

It was Sunday afternoon, and that meant it was story time at the library. Olivia was grinning as she ran up to meet Clarisse Gold, the librarian’s daughter, who was only a few months younger than her. Henry stopped to say hello to Belle, carrying his old storybook under his arm. He had started volunteering to help out at the library a few years ago, and their weekly story time had been his idea. “The kids should know where they come from,” he had said. Needless to say, it had been a huge hit with the kids of Storybrooke, and no one was better at telling stories than the Author himself.

Snow and Charming dropped off Neal a few minutes later, and soon Alex and Philip came wandering in. Clarisse sat in the corner with her nose in a book. By the time Henry looked down at his watch and saw that it was time to start, he was surrounded by a dozen eager little faces.

“What’s today’s story?” asked Philip.

Henry smiled and launched into the story he had prepared: “Once upon a time, there was a little boy who had a big family, and they didn’t always get along, but they loved him with all their hearts. One day, the boy was kidnapped and taken to another realm, a place called Neverland. Peter Pan thought he could use this boy to become immortal, but there was one thing he didn’t count on: the boy’s family. They teamed up and traveled across worlds to save him. They put aside their differences for the first time. They fought Lost Boys and evil mermaids, they risked their lives, and they even took on Peter Pan himself to save their child. But they couldn’t have done it without each other. That was when everything changed, and when they came back to Storybrooke, they never stopped being a team.”

“And they lived happily ever after?” Alex finished.

Henry laughed. “Not right away. But yes.”

Olivia and Neal exchanged a knowing look. They had both heard stories about Neverland before.

“That was you, wasn’t it?” Olivia asked. “It was our family.”

Henry nodded. “Our family is always there for each other. We always find each other.”

“That’s awesome,” said a little boy, about five years old. “You’ve really been to Neverland? What was it like?”

So Henry spent the next half an hour answering question after question about pirates and mermaids, fairies and pixie dust, and of course the shadow, which sent shivers down Olivia’s spine whenever he mentioned it.

“Neverland could have been beautiful,” he admitted. “But with Pan in charge, it was all wrong.”

“Is that how the Lost Boys got here?”

Henry nodded again. “They came back with us.”

“And they grew up,” said Philip, sounding disappointed. “I don’t ever want to grow up. Adults are boring.”

Smiling grimly, Henry shook his head. “We all have to grow up someday, but that doesn’t mean things have to be boring. Just look at our parents. They still have adventures all the time!”

Olivia wasn’t sure if she would call her parents’ constant struggle to protect the town an adventure, but it was certainly anything but boring.

Later, while Henry and Belle were cleaning up, Olivia waited in the kids’ section with Clarisse. The little brown-haired girl didn’t say much, or even look up from her book, which she had pulled out again the moment story time was over. She took after her mother in that way. Curiously, Olivia glanced at the spine.

“ _The Wizard of Oz_?”

Clarisse nodded vaguely and glanced up at her over the top of the book. “You should read it sometime. It’s a great story. Dad says it’s nothing like what really happened, but still …”

Olivia tilted her head, looking at the cover, which showed an odd group of travelers on a yellow brick road. “Do you think there are any more copies here?”

When Henry came to tell her it was time to go, she was already three chapters in and insisted on checking the book out. She was so enthralled by the story of a little girl blown away to a strange and wonderful land that she hardly even remembered her birth mother was part of the story, too.


	7. Chapter 7

Regina tucked Olivia into bed and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Good night, sweetheart," she said before turning out the light. Olivia's nightlight cast a warm glow over the room, and the little girl snuggled beneath her blankets, hugging a teddy bear. She smiled at her mom as she lingered just a moment longer.

"Sweet dreams," Regina finally said as she stood to leave the room.

Shutting the door quietly behind her, she walked past Henry's room, where he was typing away at the computer, the way that he did almost every night. Roland's door hung open, revealing an empty bedroom; he had gone over at a friend's house for his very first sleepover, with a big excited grin on his face. Making her way downstairs, Regina joined Robin in the living room. As she sat down beside him, he caught her lips in a kiss, and she let herself melt in his embrace. She inhaled deeply as they came up to breathe. He still smelled like forest, but the forest had never smelled better to her. She smiled and let her head rest against his shoulder.

"You seem happy," he commented, smiling at her.

She shrugged, but her smile deepened. "It's been a good day."

She didn't need to say that just being here, with her soul mate and three beautiful children who she loved with all her heart, in this town, in this flawed yet wonderful life she had made for herself, gave her more than enough to smile about. She knew that he knew.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you, too."

He kissed her again, passionate but gentle at the same time. They stayed that way for a long time, savoring every moment of it, neither one of them wanting to let go. They had to breathe eventually, but they didn't let go of each other for one second. What they had wasn't new anymore, but Regina still sometimes woke up completely unable to believe he was there beside her, and still craved his touch like it was water and she was dying of thirst. She still had those moments of thinking that she didn't deserve this. But those moments were fewer and farther between now.

"Shall I pour us something to drink?" Robin asked. "Wine?"

Regina nodded in agreement, with a nostalgic smile on her face. Wine. Just like they had drank that day by the fireplace, on one of their very first dates. They clinked their glasses together and she took a sip, savoring the taste, not to mention the memories it brought back. After a few minutes of contented silence, he opened his mouth to speak again.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," he said.

Regina raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

"I know you might say no. But how would you feel about getting married?"

Regina tilted her head and considered his question.

"Hypothetically?"

He shrugged.

"After my marriage to the king, I never thought I'd even consider it again."

"I understand," said Robin, looking a bit disappointed but clearly trying to hide it. "That's completely fine."

"But that was before I met you," she continued. "These past seven years have been some of the happiest of my life, and I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

His eyes lit up. "So does that mean …?"

She nodded. "Yes. Yes, I'll marry you."

He didn't have a ring. He must have thought she would say no, or at least wanted to give her the chance to, without using an expensive diamond to pressure her. But that was okay. They could pick one out together, later. For now, she was here with him, and that was all that mattered.


	8. Chapter 8

“If you and Daddy get married, does that make you my stepmother?”

Olivia sat at the kitchen table, watching Regina from across the room as she sliced an apple. Regina looked up at the child’s words and gave a shrug.

“I guess it does, sweetheart,” she said.

To her surprise, Olivia frowned. Regina set the apple and the knife down and made her way to the table. Kneeling down so that she was eye-to-eye with Olivia, she asked, “Is that okay with you?”

Olivia fidgeted and didn’t answer.

“You can tell me anything,” said Regina. “It’s okay.”

With a sigh, Olivia said, “I’m glad you’re going to marry Daddy. But in fairy tales, the stepmother is always the bad guy.”

Regina grimaced. She had been the evil stepmother, and she had no intention of ever becoming that again. One of her worst fears when Olivia was born was that she would not be able to love her properly, but she had quickly seen that that wouldn’t be the case. The woman who had blamed an innocent child for things beyond her control was long gone.

“Sweetheart, stepmothers don’t have to be bad,” she said. “Sometimes it can be hard, bringing two families together, but we’ve already done that. It’s just going to be official now, that’s all.”

Olivia was quiet for a minute while she considered that.

“But in Henry’s storybook, when you were Snow White’s stepmother …”

Regina sighed and settled down into one of the kitchen chairs. “I made bad choices a long time ago. You know that. But I love your daddy, and I love you, sweetheart. That’s not going to change after the wedding.”

“You promise?”

Regina nodded. “I promise.”

A smile broke across Olivia’s face. She jumped up off the chair and wrapped her chubby little arms around Regina.

“I love you too, Mom,” she squealed.

Regina gently ran a hand through her soon-to-be stepdaughter’s red curls. She remembered patting Snow White’s head as she lied, claiming she couldn’t be happier to be her stepmother. But this wasn’t like that. This was something she chosen, and something she wanted.

“I’m baking an apple pie,” said Regina. “Would you like to help me?”

“Can I?” Olivia looked up at Regina with big, excited blue eyes and a grin on her face.

“Of course,” said Regina. “You’re a big girl now. Here, I’m almost done slicing the apples. Why don’t you wash your hands, and then you can help me with the filling?”

Only a few slices of apple were laid out in the pan when Regina heard a familiar crunching sound. Her eyes went to Olivia right away, and the little girl flushed bright red, a half-eaten slice of apple still in her hand.

“Sorry?”

“That’s okay,” said Regina. “Just don’t eat them all, okay? Or there won’t be any left for the pie.”

Olivia nodded and gobbled up the rest of the slice.

“Now,” said Regina when the pie crust was filled up with fresh apple slices. “We add butter and sugar.”

“And cinnamon!” said Olivia eagerly.

“That’s right," said Regina. “Cinnamon, too.”

A seven-year-old child wasn’t actually much help when it came to baking, so of course, the counter was a mess by the time they were done. But that didn’t matter, Regina told herself as she opened the oven and put the pie in.

“How long will it take?” Olivia asked, peering in to get a better look, as if it might be finished already.

“It’ll be a while,” Regina told her. “And it’s going to be dinnertime soon.”

Olivia sighed. She knew what that meant: she couldn’t have a piece of pie right now, even if it had already been done baking.

“You can have some for dessert,” said Regina. “Now why don’t you go and find Roland and tell him? I’m sure he’ll want pie, too.”


	9. Chapter 9

Olivia threw her pencil down in frustration.

“I can’t do it!”

From across the room, Henry looked up from his writing.

“What can’t you do, Peanut?” he asked.

“The family tree for school,” she said. “It’s too hard.”

He cracked a smile and put his computer aside, before coming over to take a look. She showed him a family tree worksheet, with blanks for siblings, two parents, and two sets of grandparents.

“See how there’s only two blanks?” she said, pointing at the second line from the bottom. “And that’s Daddy and Mom. But then I also have another mom, and so do you, and so did Roland. Snow and David are your grandparents, but then Snow was also Mom’s step-daughter. And what about Mr. and Mrs. Gold? I know they’re family. Are they my aunt and uncle? Or grandparents?”

Henry chuckled. “They’re my grandparents, but not yours. They’re just …” he shrugged. “Family.”

Olivia sighed. “Why does it have to be so hard?”

Henry was quiet for a moment, considering. Then he got an idea and smiled.

“It’s only hard because our family isn’t a tree,” he said. “Some families are like trees. Like … your classmate, Philip. His family is like a tree. He has his mom and dad, a little sister, two sets of grandparents, all nice and simple. But not all families are like that, and it’s okay when they aren’t. Some families are more like patchwork quilts, or like gardens.”

The idea made Olivia smile.

“So you mean we’re like flowers and not like branches?” she asked.

Henry nodded. “That’s a good way of putting it.”

She beamed. “I know exactly what I’m going to do!” she said, and before he could even react, she had jumped up off the sofa and was running up the stairs. She came back a few minutes later with a box of colored pencils and a blank sheet of paper. He watched as she drew one little flower after another, sometimes in clusters, sometimes apart. Robin Hood was there, labeled as “Daddy”, a dandelion armed with a bow and arrow. And their mother was represented by some kind of red flower whose petals seemed to be on fire. The three of them were little daisies, two of them growing near Robin's dandelion, but Henry’s flower was a bit to the side, near another flower labeled “Henry’s mom Emma”, which Olivia had drawn in yellow and red. Zelena’s flower had leaves like a weed, but bright orange petals that were strangely pretty. Belle, of course, was a red rose, growing side-by-side with a thorny plant meant to represent Mr. Gold, and their daughter Clarisse bloomed in between them as yet another rose, this one with yellow petals. Henry was surprised by how many people his sister included: Snow and Charming, both Neals, Maleficent and Lily, most of the Merry Men, and even “Grandma Cora”, who scowled up at them and held a heart in one of her leaves.

Along the top, she drew puffy little clouds and a sun, and she wrote: “My family is a garden.”

“There,” she said, putting her pencil down. “That’s much better.”


	10. Chapter 10

"Good! You're getting it!" Regina said as Olivia levitated the book and made it fly around the room. "Now – whoa! Careful!" she added when the book zipped past and bounced off the wall, an inch from a framed family photo they had put up three years ago. Olivia lost her concentration for a moment, and the book fell to the ground.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

Regina shook her head. "Don't be sorry. That was very good."

Olivia smiled and brought the book flying into her lap with another burst of magic. Regina peered down to look at the cover.

" _The Wizard of Oz_?" She frowned, and Olivia's heart pounded. "Where did you get that, sweetheart?"

"At the library. I know it's not the real story," she added quickly. "Just like that movie with the fox isn't Daddy's real story. I just thought … Clarisse said it was good."

Regina gave a vague nod, and Olivia relaxed. She wasn't quite sure what she had expected. It wasn't as if her parents had ever told her _The Wizard of Oz_ was forbidden, but they had never watched it as a family or talked much about it, and she knew perfectly well that Zelena was the reason why.

"All right," said Regina. "You're a big girl. If you want to read it, that's fine."

Olivia's eyes lit up. "So can I read the Grimm fairy tales, too?"

"Nice try, but no," said Regina, shaking her head firmly. "Not until you're Roland's age."

"But Mom!" Olivia protested. "Roland's in middle school!"

Regina gave that smile that said she found Olivia's antics adorable, but she wasn't going to change her mind. Olivia sighed.

"Fine," she said. "Can we go out for ice cream later? The whole family?"

Clarisse had taught her that little trick. She liked to listen from the back of the shop as her father made his deals – both the "give me your firstborn" sort and the more mundane business of running a pawn shop. She said that if you wanted something, the best time to ask was after you had already been denied something else. One time, Clarisse said that a man had come in, desperate to keep his apartment after falling behind on his rent. Mr. Gold, of course, was the landlord as well as the pawn shop owner, and he had offered his client a batch of straw-spun gold in exchange for his wife's firstborn. Outraged, the man had refused. But he did agree to pawn his pocketwatch, which turned out to have magical properties. It wasn't until later that Clarisse had figured out the watch, and not the firstborn, was what her father had wanted all along.

That method hadn't quite seemed to work on the girls' teacher, who just got more and more annoyed as they kept asking for extra recess time and less homework, but Olivia knew her parents fell for it every time. So if she couldn't read _Grimm's Fairy Tales_ until she was Roland's age, she was at least going to get ice cream out of it.

Two hours later, she was sitting at Any Given Sundae, with her mom, her dad, and both of her brothers, savoring the taste of mint chocolate chip ice cream and listening to Henry tell the story of the lady with ice powers who used to run this place when he was a kid.

"Do you think I could do ice magic?" she asked in between bites.

"I'm not sure," said Regina. "The magic that Elsa and Ingrid had was a different sort than what runs in our family. But who knows?"

Olivia shrugged. "At least I can do fire. That's just as cool."

Her father chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Just don't set the town on fire next time you decide to let it go."

"I won't, Daddy," she said. "I'm getting a lot better at controlling it, aren't I?" She turned to her mother for confirmation.

"She is," Regina agreed. "She's been doing very well."

Olivia beamed with pride and took another bite of her mint chocolate chip ice cream.


	11. Chapter 11

Olivia finished The Wizard of Oz a few days later. She cringed her way through the wicked witch’s scenes, but Dorothy and her little band of friends were more than enough to make up with it. There was only one part she didn’t like.

“Why did she have to go back to Kansas?” she asked her mother. “Oz was so much better.”

“Oz is a real place,” said Regina. “Would you want to leave Storybrooke and live there?”

Olivia shook her head. “But Storybrooke isn’t all dry and gray like Kansas.”

Regina smiled, but there was something not quite happy about it. Later, when she was alone with Robin, she would tell him about being eighteen and wanting so badly to escape from a world as dazzling as Oz, and how happy she would have been to click her heels together and trade it all for a simple life filled with love. But not right now. Not in front of her daughter.

“I hope you never have to make a choice like that,” she said, and Olivia shrugged and nodded, not really understanding.

* * *

 

This time, her father took her to visit Zelena. She took the Wizard of Oz book in her bag, not sure at first whether she was going to pull it out or not. But twenty minutes into tea and awkward silence, she put it on the table and watched her birth mother’s eyes go wide.

“They let you read that?”

Olivia nodded. “It’s not the real story, but it was good. I was hoping …”

Zelena’s eyes narrowed.

“… well, I was hoping you could tell me what really happened. With you and Dorothy, I mean.”

“Are you sure you want to know?” Zelena asked, putting down her cup of tea and looking at Olivia very seriously. “I wasn’t a good person then. Not that I am now …” she let out a harsh laugh. “But I was worse then. If you’re looking to hear that I didn’t do anything wrong, don’t ask.”

Olivia shook her head. “I want the truth. That’s all.”

So Zelena told her. And it was hard to hear how her birth mother had envied a girl Olivia's own age so much that she made her into an enemy, but she had grown up listening to Snow White and the former Evil Queen swap perfectly friendly snarky comments about the times they had fought. She knew that bad things in the past didn’t have to define people. What she hadn’t expected – but to be honest, what she had been hoping for – was that hint of regret in Zelena’s voice.

“It was a long time ago.”

“I know,” said Olivia. “Thank you for telling me.”

* * *

 

“I think she seemed sorry,” said Olivia over dinner, prompting Robin and Regina to exchange a wary glance over her head. “She didn’t say she shouldn’t have done it, but she didn’t seem proud.”

When they had put her to bed, Regina asked Robin whether it was true, and he shrugged.

“I don’t think that wicked woman regrets a thing,” he said. “But I'll never be able to see her objectively after what she did to me.”

Regina nodded.

“I think she didn’t want the peanut to know how horrible she was.”

“That’s how it started with me,” said Regina, fidgeting as she sat beside him. “There’s nothing worse than having your child look at you and see a monster.”

Robin didn’t speak. She knew him well enough to know what he was thinking, but he also knew her well enough to know it wouldn’t help to voice his thoughts. She was better than Zelena in his eyes, but not always in her own.

“I think she loves Olivia,” said Regina at last. “But that doesn’t mean she’s changed.”

She was vaguely aware of Robin nodding. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the forehead, and she closed her eyes, whispering a soft “I love you” and sinking into his embrace.


	12. Chapter 12

He knocked on her door in the middle of the night. Zelena startled, and the tea she was sipping splashed on the table. Wiping it up quickly with a napkin, she stood and crossed the room. She opened the door and found a strange boy, maybe in his late teens, waiting outside.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“We want the same thing,” he said. “And we both can get it.”

Intrigued, she stepped aside and let him pass. He sat down on her sofa and put his feet up on the cushions. She frowned, but closed the door behind her and sat back down.

“Tell me more.”

“My name is Richard,” he said. “Under the curse, it was something different, but I go by my old name, the one your sister stole from me. When I was a little boy, she had my father killed for helping Snow White. He _didn’t_ help her, but that didn’t matter. I swore that I would avenge him, and now that I’m all grown up, I can. But I need your help.”

Zelena gave a harsh laugh. “You want me to help you kill my sister.”

“Everyone knows you hate her as much as anyone,” the boy said. “Ask her to come and meet with you. We can set up an ambush.”

“Regina can catch arrows,” said Zelena. “And throw fireballs. You think she won’t survive an assassination attempt? Or that her charming family will let us live if we succeed?”

Richard smiled. He pulled something out of his pocket and held it up in the light. Zelena gasped as she recognized it.

“A magic bean?” she asked. “But there aren’t supposed to be any left!”

“There are if you know where to look,” he said. “And as for the Evil Queen, she’s not immortal. Just distract her long enough and I’ll take care of the rest. Then you can take your daughter and we’ll get out of this world together.”

Zelena hesitated. The bitterness she had carried inside her most of her life yearned for fulfillment, but when he said “your daughter”, Olivia’s face surged to the forefront of her mind, looking up at her with eyes full of tears. She knew how her daughter would take this.

“I need time to think,” she said.

Richard nodded and stood. Looking Zelena in the eye, he said, “I’m going to avenge my father one way or another. You should think about what’s in your daughter’s best interest. I’m sure you’ll make the right choice.”

Then he turned and walked out into the night. Zelena realized as the door slammed behind him that he had just dropped a threat. And not against her, no. Against Olivia. Anger surged through her. Anger, and fear. For the first time in years, she clawed at the cuff on her wrist, yearning for the magic that would allow her to protect her daughter.

She didn’t have that power.

Slumping down in her chair, she buried her face in her hands and let out a dry sob, the cup of tea forgotten and growing cold. An unwanted thought crept into her mind: what would Regina do? But she shook her head. She knew what Regina would do: rally that disgustingly heroic family of hers and fight off anyone who dared to threaten their perfect happy ending. Zelena didn’t have that. She was on her own. Even if she tried to go to Regina for help, what were the chances she would believe her? And so the only thing to do …

Was what she had wanted to do in the first place. To help this Richard, to take her own revenge, to take her own happy ending by force and never look back. And if some small part of her mind screamed in protest, that didn’t matter.

She stood abruptly and rushed out the front door, into the darkened street where Richard stood, leaning against the wall, as if he was waiting for her. As if he knew exactly what she would do.

“I’ll help you,” she told him. “Come back inside and we can talk about your plan.”


	13. Chapter 13

“You’re not seriously inviting Rumplestiltskin to our wedding!” Robin protested. “After everything he’s done to us? To you?”

Regina sighed and resisted the urge to bang her head against the table. It was late at night, and Roland and Olivia were already in bed, but she and Robin were slowly working their way through endless wedding hassles.

“Look, I know the seating charts are going to be tricky,” she said. “But his daughter is Olivia’s best friend, and she wants her there, and we can’t exactly invite a seven-year-old without inviting her parents, too.”

Robin took her hand from across the table and gave her a look that said he didn’t buy it.

“This isn’t about that,” he said. “It’s about you trying to force yourself to forgive, isn’t it?”

“And if it is?” Regina asked. “The people I hurt forgave me. Shouldn't I at least try to make peace with the ones who hurt me?”

After a pause, Robin nodded. “Okay. We can make it a Villains Anonymous meeting if that’s what you want to do. But under no circumstances are we inviting your sister. That is where I draw the line.”

Regina frowned, but she nodded.

“That’s fair,” she said. “She hurt you more than she hurt me. She doesn’t have to be invited if you don’t want her there.”

Robin visibly relaxed.

“Now,” he said in a much lighter tone. “Shall we tackle the seating charts together, or wait until we’ve had something to drink?”

“Probably best we do it sober,” Regina said. “Or we’ll decide it’s funny to seat Mal and Lily next to the Charmings.”

“True,” Robin agreed. “A couple of angry dragons could make for quite the unpleasant turn.”

A knock on the door startled them. Regina stood abruptly, letting the stack of wedding announcements in her hand fall to the table.

“We’re not expecting company,” she said.

“You think something is wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” said Regina. But she walked cautiously across the room, opened the door, and saw …

“Elizabeth?”

She barely recognized her at first, about ten years older, with traces of wrinkles on her face and a big pregnant belly, but Regina recognized her old chambermaid even now.

“Your Majesty,” she said. “I’ve come to warn you. Zelena is plotting against you – her and a boy I didn’t recognize.”

Regina’s shoulders slumped. She sighed and pressed her fingers to her temple, thinking how stupid this was and … what was she going to tell Olivia? Poor sweet Olivia who wanted to believe her birth mother could be saved, even if she hadn’t quite admitted it.

“Come in,” she said in a weary tone. “Tell me everything.”

* * *

 

“Tell me one more thing,” Regina said when her former servant was finished. “Why are you helping me?”

Elizabeth looked at her like she couldn’t believe what she was asking.

“If you were loyal to the Evil Queen, she doesn’t exist anymore.”

She felt Robin tense beside her, but he didn’t speak. Elizabeth shrugged.

“I was there when you first married the king. Do you remember that?”

Regina did. She gave a brief nod.

“And the curse wasn’t bad for me. I had a decent job, a nice apartment … no special happy ending to lose, back home, but I found one in Storybrooke. I’m not saying you didn’t do anything bad, but you were good to me.”

Regina nodded again. “Thank you. For the warning.”

* * *

 

“So what do we do now?” Robin asked when they were alone again.

“We wait for Zelena to come to us,” said Regina. “And when she does … we’ll have to be ready.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe from her,” said Robin, squeezing her hand.

Regina cringed, understanding his meaning only too well. He would kill for her, and he would die for her. Neither of those were okay with her.

“Don’t hurt her unless you have to,” she told him. “And don’t put yourself in danger. Promise me that.”

He didn’t respond.

“Please, Robin,” she said. “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid. I can’t lose you.”

Finally, he nodded. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“I want to talk to her first,” said Regina. “And I want to find out who her partner in crime is.”

A sudden flash of movement on the stairs caught their attention. They turned in unison to see a little red-headed girl in a nightgown running back upstairs.

“She heard us,” Robin said in a horrified tone. “She shouldn’t have heard that.”

Regina felt a pang of something that wasn’t quite sadness and might have been anger. But she tried to push it aside. What Olivia needed now was comfort, not bitter words about people who couldn’t change even for their children.

“Sweetheart, come back down,” she called. Robin joined her at the foot of the stairs. Olivia stopped and turned to look at them. She wasn’t crying, but there was a profound look of confusion on her face.

“Why?” she asked as Robin lifted her into his arms. “Why would she want to hurt you?”

“Zelena is … a complicated person,” he said. “I think … I …” he looked to Regina desperately over the child’s head.

“She was a … villain … for a long time,” said Regina, stumbling over the word. “Not everyone can change.”

“But she was changing,” Olivia protested, turning to look at her. “I thought she really wanted to.”

“It’s not as easy as just wanting to, sweetheart,” said Regina. “But you need to understand, it’s not your fault. And it doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you.”

“Are you going to kill her?” Olivia asked. Her voice shook.

“Only if she gives us no other option,” said Robin.

“But is she going to hurt you?”

“Your father and I will protect each other,” Regina told her. “It’s going to be okay, you’ll see.”

Olivia still looked worried, but she nodded.

“Come on, peanut,” said Robin. “I’ll tuck you back in.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ... this is officially an AU where the 5B arc never happened. If you've watched the latest episode, you'll know why. I know we're all upset, but I'm not going to quit loving OQ or writing fic for it, so ... anyway, here's the new chapter:

The call from Zelena came the next day, and Regina immediately grabbed her coat.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Robin asked.

“I have to,” said Regina.

She could tell he didn’t agree, but he nodded anyway. He understood. She kissed him, savoring the taste of his lips, and when they broke apart, she whispered a quick “I love you”.

“I know,” he said. “Come home safe to me.”

“I’ll do my best,” she said. “Take care of the kids.”

“Of course.”

Then she was gone, leaving behind nothing but a puff of smoke.

* * *

 

Regina ignored the homemade cookies Zelena put on the table in front of her, even after her sister had taken a bite of one.

“You wanted to talk?”

Zelena nodded. But she didn’t say anything.

“Well?” said Regina. “Talk.”

Zelena shifted in her seat. “Things have to change between us. I want to see Olivia more.”

Regina blinked and took a second to respond. She had expected a confrontation, or maybe a cheerful front to hide the fact that her sister was plotting against her. She hadn’t expected a straightforward request like this. This could be good. If Zelena was being honest about what she wanted, Regina could use that.

“Well,” she said, “you know I can’t allow that unless Robin agrees, and unless Olivia is okay with it.”

“But you can talk to him, tell him you think I deserve it,” said Zelena. “He’ll listen to you.”

Regina considered that. Taking a chance, she tried one of the cookies. It was delicious.

“We were both Rumple’s students,” said Regina. “We both know that deals only work if both parties are happy. So tell me, Zelena. What are you going to do for me?”

“Still a villain at heart,” Zelena observed with a snort of laughter. “Good. The heroes don’t understand these things.”

“Answer my question,” said Regina.

“What do you want?”

“I want you to think seriously about your choices,” said Regina, setting down the half-eaten cookie and leaning forward to look her sister in the eyes. “For the past few years, you’ve hovered somewhere between good and evil, toeing the line so that we’d let you see Olivia, but not making any real effort to redeem yourself. And that’s your choice. I know redemption can’t be forced. But if you want us to let you see her more, I’m going to need to see you commit to changing.”

Zelena raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because I won’t let you do to her what our mother did to us,” said Regina. “She wants to believe in you. She does. And I will not allow you to break her heart.”

Zelena gulped. A flicker of doubt surfaced in her face.

“Is everything okay?” Regina asked.

Zelena shook her head. “No. Everything’s not all right.” A tear ran down her cheek. She looked away.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me,” Regina said.

Zelena didn’t say anything. But at that moment, the world began to spin around her, and Regina slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

 

When she woke up, Regina was lying on her side on the couch with Zelena standing over her. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and looked up at the other woman.

“Why?” she asked.

“He threatened Olivia,” said Zelena. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair disheveled. “At least … I think he did. I couldn’t let him hurt her.”

Regina stood and made for the door, but Zelena grabbed her by the elbow, and she spun around to face her sister again, yanking her arm free.

“Let me go!” she shouted.

“Well, you can leave if you like, but it’s not going to do you any good,” said Zelena. “Check your wrist.”

She looked down and had to fight back a surge of panic as she recognized the black cuff clamped around her wrist. She looked back up at Zelena in shock.

“How did you get it off?” she demanded.

“He took it off, of course,” Zelena said. “What did you expect? That I’d never find an ally who could help me?”

Regina laughed at that. “You didn’t find an ally. You found someone who wants to use you. So help me. Take this cuff off and tell me what you know about your so-called ally.”

“Well, for one thing, you killed his mum and dad,” Zelena said bluntly. “So he wants to take his revenge.”

“So that’s the reason for all this,” said Regina, indicating the cuff on her wrist. “That’s why you didn’t just kill me in my sleep. He wants to do it.”

Zelena shook her head and slumped down onto the couch. “He wants you to suffer first.”

“There’s nothing he can do that hasn’t already been done,” said Regina. “And this is not the time for one of your jealous sister speeches. It’s true.”

After a long pause, Zelena reached for Regina’s wrist and pried the cuff off.

“He can,” she said quietly. “He’s going after your family. But there might still be time to save them.”

* * *

 

In the past few months, Olivia had learned how to shoot fireballs out of the palms of her hands and move things across the room without touching them, but she didn’t know how to disappear in a puff of smoke yet. Right about now, as she hid behind the sofa and watched the scary stranger, shaking with fear, she was really wishing that she could.

He was about Henry’s age, maybe a little younger, but he was nothing like her big brother. He was scary. He was mean. He was holding a knife to Daddy’s throat, and why would anyone want to do that?

Olivia caught Roland’s eye as he peeked out from the door he was hiding behind. She shook her head. _Don’t do anything stupid,_ she thought, as if he could hear her. _Wait._

Robin had bought his children enough time to hide when the scary boy came, but now Olivia’s heart was racing, and she found herself wishing that her mom or her big brother Henry was there. But Mom was with her _other_ mom, and Henry was with _his_ other mom, and Olivia was hiding behind the couch while a stranger held a knife to her daddy’s throat. It was like she was three years old again, being kidnapped by her birth mother, only worse. Much worse.

A moment later, her two moms poofed into the middle of the room in clouds of purple and green smoke. The stranger’s jaw dropped, but he didn’t let go, didn’t drop the knife in his hand. Instead, his eyes narrowed.

“You didn’t cuff her?” he asked Zelena in a harsh, angry tone.

“I did,” she said. “But I changed my mind. I don’t want anything to do with you and your plans, Richard.”

“Now just put down that knife and step away from my fiancé,” Regina told him, holding out her hands in a placating gesture. “Please. Before you hurt someone.”

“I want to hurt you!” Richard shouted. “You. Ruined. My. Life! You killed my parents, just because you thought they helped Snow White! I hate her and I hate you and I hate that you have a family when I’m an orphan and it’s all your fault! Your fault! So I’m going to take everything away from you! I will avenge my family!”

He was screaming, and Regina stood there with tears in her eyes, too shocked to really react. Olivia let out a little sob, but no one seemed to hear. She caught another glimpse of Roland’s face. He looked just as shocked as she felt.

“Okay, you need to listen to me very carefully,” said Regina. “I wronged you, and you have every right to be angry with me. But you do not get to take it out on my family. They are innocent, good people who have never hurt you, and if you do anything to harm Robin or our children, I will rip out your heart and crush it. Do you understand?”

Richard laughed. “Still the same Evil Queen you’ve always been, aren’t you? Well, it’s your choice. You see that apple over there?” – he nodded to a shiny red fruit perched on the edge of the coffee table – “I think you know what’s in it. So you can take a bite and condemn yourself to a fate worse than death, or I can slit your boyfriend’s throat.”

Regina’s eyes widened. Olivia wondered if she and her mother were both remembering the same thing – the story from Henry’s book where she gave Snow White the same choice. Olivia knew that Henry could wake Regina up if she ate the apple, and she had no doubt that her daddy could do the same. But she also remembered what the Evil Queen in the book did to Prince Charming to keep him from waking up Snow White.

As Regina lifted the apple to her mouth, Olivia stepped out from behind the couch and aimed a fireball right at the scary man.

It wasn’t anger or fear that fueled it. Those things were there, but the most powerful emotion coursing through her, flying from the palms of her hands in bursts of flame, was a fierce and powerful love. She knew exactly why she was doing this: to protect her mom and daddy, to protect her family. She couldn’t let anything happen to them.

Richard screamed and dropped his knife. Olivia let the flames go out as her daddy tackled the intruder, sending him tumbling backwards onto the carpet. Meanwhile, across the room, another body fell.

Regina.

In that moment where everything happened at once, she had taken a bite of the apple.


	15. Chapter 15

Olivia ran to her mother’s side. Roland was right beside her, and Zelena hung back, watching with a concerned expression. Robin was wrestling with the stranger, Richard, and held him back, away from Regina.

“Is she going to be okay?” Roland asked.

“No, she’s not,” Richard snarled. “The only way out of a sleeping curse is True Love’s Kiss, and no one could ever love someone like her enough to save her.”

“You’re wrong,” said Olivia, standing up and glaring at him. “We all know Henry can, and I bet Daddy or me or Roland can, too.”

“Just try, then,” he said. “A heart as dark as hers could never love, and she certainly couldn’t love you, the child of her lover and her sister. You honestly think she feels anything more for you than she did for her first unwanted stepchild?”

Snow, Olivia realized. He was talking about Snow White. But that couldn’t be right, because Regina did love Snow in her own way, no matter what had happened between them in the past.

“You don’t know anything about her heart,” Robin snarled. “And you sure as hell don’t know anything about our daughter. Do it, Olivia. Wake her up.”

Olivia leaned forward and pressed a kiss against her soon-to-be stepmother’s cheek. For a horrible moment, she thought it hadn’t worked. A sinking feeling filled her stomach. Then Regina’s chest heaved, and her eyes flew open. She looked up at Olivia.

“You saved me.”

“Of course I did,” Olivia said. “You’re my mother.”

Regina stood up and walked across the room to Robin, who was watching with a smile, and Richard, who had gone still and was staring at her, open-mouthed.

“You didn’t think it would work, did you?” she asked. “You didn’t believe the rumors when I broke the second Dark Curse. You didn’t think I was capable of True Love.”

“I made sure Henry would be away when I came,” he said. “Just in case. I didn’t think one of Robin’s children would be able to wake you, especially not _her_.”

Regina glared. “You think I care who gave birth to my children? You have accused me of many things today, most of which are true, but in that, you are sadly mistaken. I am many things. But I have never been incapable of love.”

“What are you going to do to me?” he asked. His voice contained a hint of panic, but he was obviously trying not to let it show. “Kill me? Rip out my heart?”

Regina laughed. It wasn’t a kind laugh. This was a side to her mother that Olivia had never seen before, but it didn’t scare her. She knew that if the Evil Queen was still there, somewhere inside the woman she knew, she only let her out to protect the people she loved.

“You sound like me,” she said. “Me, ten years ago, forty years ago, putting on a brave face and challenging people to kill me because I didn’t think I’d be forgiven even if I begged.”

Her expression grew serious, and she took a step back. “No, I’m not going to kill you.”

He looked shocked. “Are you going to lock me up, then?”

“I’m going to give you a second chance,” said Regina. “You came after my family, and that’s not something I forgive easily, but you’re right about who I was, and in our old world, no one would have blamed you for trying to get revenge. Storybrooke is a place for second chances, and if I get one, then so do you.”

Robin let go of him. He staggered forward and made no move to attack again.

“Now go,” said Regina. “Get out of here, and don’t ever threaten my family again.”


	16. Epiloge

When Henry came home, he found them curled up on the couch watching _Star Wars_ , as if nothing had happened. But his mother stood up and smiled at him, and he ran into her arms. He was taller than she was now.

“I heard what happened,” he said. “I’m sorry. I should have been there to protect you.”

“It’s okay,” said Regina. “I’m fine. We’re all fine.”

A few moments later, Olivia spoke up: “Sit down, Mom, I can’t see the movie!”

“You want to join us?” Regina asked, and Henry smiled.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

* * *

 

The next day, Olivia went back to school and found a whole classroom full of eager second-graders demanding to know every detail of what had happened. She sat down with Neal and Clarisse at lunch, and they talked about the Enchanted Forest Day the school was getting ready for. But in the few minutes before the bell rang, Clarisse asked:

“Is it true your mother let the guy go after he tried to hurt her?”

“Yeah, it’s true.”

“I heard my parents talking about it last night. My mom wanted to know if my dad would do that, and he said no, not if someone came after her or me.”

Olivia shrugged. “He’s like my Aunt Mal. She’s not really a villain anymore, but if anyone tried to hurt Lily, she’d turn into a dragon and do really bad things to them. I think my mom would, too – she told him she’d rip his heart out if he tried to hurt us again. She’s not Snow White.”

Sometimes it was nice, having someone to talk about those things with. Someone who wouldn’t judge, who also had family members that fell somewhere in the murky place in between good and evil.

* * *

 

It wasn’t long before winter break, and it also wasn’t long before the wedding. Regina had insisted on having it in winter.

“I don’t want a big spectacle,” she had said. “Just a private ceremony with our friends and family, and there’s no point in waiting another six months for that.”

“So eager to become Mrs. Locksley?”

“Mills-Locksley,” she had corrected him. “And why not? We both know we’re not going to change our minds.”

So they gathered in the church the first week of winter vacation, with just a dozen or so guests. Roland was the ring bearer, dressed up in a suit for the first time in his life, and Olivia got to be the flower girl. Henry walked his mother down the aisle. She was wearing a simple off-white dress, with lace sleeves and a plunging neckline, and she carried a bouquet of white roses. Robin spotted the blue flowers braided into her hair, the string of pearls around her neck that he knew she had borrowed from Mary Margaret, the emerald ring that she had worn on her right hand as long as he had known her, and as for something new, there was the diamond ring he slipped onto her finger, which they had picked out together just a few weeks before.

“I do,” he said softly, and so did she. There was nothing new about that. They had already been there for each other, for better or for worse, for far longer than they’d been married. And hopefully, it would be a long time before death did them part.

* * *

 

A few days later, Henry came into the living room with a freshly-bound book in his hands. He held it out to his mother and stepfather, smiling nervously.

“This is for you,” he said. “It’s a late wedding present. It’s your story. Our family’s story.”

His stomach clenched nervously as they took it and looked through it, but smiles formed on their faces, and he even saw his mother reach up to wipe away a tear. He sat down and watched as they read it together, and he promised himself he would never tell them why he had started writing their story, their story in particular. If an author’s pen could save a good man from a fate worse than death and a changed woman from suffering another heartbreak, the Merry Men from losing their friend and leader, a little boy from becoming an orphan, and a baby from losing her father, then it was worth it. They deserved their happy ending.


End file.
